Dilemma

Going to a big tournament in 48ish hours, and I still have no idea of what to play

The local big 4 (Mermail-Dragon-Prophecy-Evilswarm) are all at full power. I won't play Evilswarm because I don't like them, and I was left with 3 choices

I have access to my friend's Prophecy, but I have no idea what to do against "pros". If you can open Secret Judgment 9/10 games then there's nothing else to say. I can't, and I found myself in very awkward positions when I got hit by Droll and Lock Bird (or even worse EEV) during testing. The deck is hard to play if things doesn't go right. That does not happen too often, but I find it really boring...  Prophecy can't really OTK, and doesn't have so many tricks, so... not my type

Dragons are basically the same. A lot of powerful plays, but when you cannot gather the 4 elements early enough, it's not that good anymore. Also, getting hit by Spellbook of Fate or Maxx "C" is no fun at all. It can't OTK either, so...

Mermail, the deck I'm most confident with, is also the weakest of 4 decks. I play Undine Mermail with Tidal, but Ophion is still a real bitch. Also, Spellbook of Fate is just too overpowered. The deck has a 50:50 Dragons match-up due to the incredible speed, but it cannot recover once everything is spent. Abyssgaios is big and powerful, but Spellbook of Fate is overpowered, really

Some stupid rogue decks also came to my mind. Infernity, Gadget, HERO (ShockMaster.deck). However, when you do not draw good enough with those decks, you die

...

See ya after the tourney. Prolly write a report (haven't done it for quite long)

Revisit: Abysscale of Mizuchi

http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Abyss-scale_of_Mizuchi

Boost Megalo to 3200, attack 2 times

So, not talking about negating spell cards here (that sucks, opponent can always activate a random Book of Wisdom)

A single Megalo drop (with Undine searching for it previously) = 6400 damage

So, Megalo + Abyssteus/Abysspike/Tidal = game

Imagine: People attack Abysslinde, you get Pike, discard something, search Undine

Next turn, summon Undine, search Megalo, drop it, get Mizuchi, equip, tribute Undine

At this point, if you can somehow clear opponent's monster (most likely discarding Infantry/Tidal for Megalo previously), you win

Of course this means nothing vs Dragosack + 2 tokens, but against everything else, it's still notable (facing Blue Spellbook guy?)

Right?

Getting back to competitive play

Now it's all about Dragon vs Prophecy lol

After talking to Mike from Dueling Legacy, I realized praying is a pretty good way to counter Prophecy (and I'm playing Dragons)

/sad

When trolls become serious

Everyone's hyped about the Big 4 (Mermail - Evilswarm - Spellbook - Dragon), some even consider Fire Fist a good contender (including me)

When I first saw those deck, me and some of my friends made a lot of funny jokes about the card. Months later, when we realize none of the usual side deck choices against those deck are good, the "jokes" become something to consider

Mermail is too easy to side against, let's just say that

Evilswarm? Side Electric Virus and 1 Pandemic (whatever Infection card, I don't even remember the name). Steal Ophion, search something, go all-out and OTK, or at least make a board of big monsters (bigger than 2550)

Spellbook? Side DNA Surgery LOL Stop all the Spellbook of Master, Power, Fate

Dragons? Side Gozen Match, ideally when they use a second Baby Dragon's effect, 2 cards wasted for nothing. Just don't let them summon 2 Tempest into Dragosack. Also in Karakuri you can always side Electric Virus and 1-2 Watchdogs. Steal Dragosack, make tokens, summon Dog, summon a lot of Burei, win

That's for today xD

New project

I just decided to train myself into a more control player. Being aggressive is fun, but I want to win tournaments more than being a troller in those

So, can anyone show me a good aggressive deck but still can play traps and do the "control" aspect?

I've been thinking of Fire Fist, but I hate deck with boring artworks...

Recently I've tweaked my Karakuri into a 12-trap build (with 14 monsters, 2 of which are Thunderking Raioh). Doing good for now, so I want something REALLY different

Anyone has an idea about Madolche? Please show me. They look so cute. The inclusion of Hootcake is ok too, as LTGY will be released very soon

Thanks in advance xD

Elemental Dragon in everything

Quick post, as I'm still waiting for LTGY

• Tempest: It needs the deck to have WIND monsters and Dragon monsters, so it's not too hot (discard Red-Eyes Wyvern for Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon anyone? Or discard Luster Dragon #2 for a random Hieratic) Dragunity is an obvious choice if you like Tempest (Gold Sarcophagus for a free Phalanx/Mystletainn), Harpie is decent too. However, I rate this card as "average" overall (2400 ATK). Aside from the Elemental Dragon deck, you'll rarely see this card in play except in Dragunities.
• Blaster: Laval, Fire Fist. The destruction effect of Blaster is much more useful than Tempest's restricted search. He can also feed the graveyard for Rekindling/Brotherhood of the Fire Fist Spirit. I suppose this card will make Laval much better than the old version, considering a single Rekindling + Blaster in graveyard = madness (Librarian + 1 level 5 synchro + 1 level 8 synchro and you haven't normal summoned), AND the destruction effect may work as a pseudo-MST, which is really needed for the deck. Other than that, Blaster is not too useful either, since there're not many good FIRE-based decks out there
• Tidal: It's for the WATER deck (and recently people usually call Mermail WATER deck). It's pretty much design for the WATER-based deck. Even though Tidal's effect is the only -2 effect of the 4 dragons, it's very useful in WATER decks as most of them rely much on the graveyard. Tidal + Abyssgunde = any Mermail from your deck, and Megalo discarding Tidal will immediately put 2 level 7 WATER monsters on the field for Big Eye or Abyssgaios. Speaking of Abyssgaios, it's one of those reasons why Tidal is so good. Abyssgaios is too good (until people switch back to Undine build, like I have). Frog-based deck also gets some boost because you can kick Swap Frog and Salvage it back, or kick Nimble Angler for mad summoning
• Redox: the best of all IMO. It turns every explosive EARTH decks out there (Karakuri, Geargia, Gadget) into really really fast-paced deck. In Karakuri, you have Iron Call for the same purpose, but Redox can summon the discarded monster which is great in many situations. In Gadget, Shock Master is now easy to make, and Big Eye + Dragosack will be 2 continuous threats as the deck can literally summon 2 level 7 monster (the other being Machina Fortress) for free. In Geargia, if you have Geargiarsenal, Redox and a random EARTH monster, you can set 2 Geargiarmor in your first turn (for a -1). Dark Hole is now cut from many competitive decks, so the 2 Armors set would be scary as fuck. And you can always discard Nishipachi to summon it, trigger the effecr to flip Arnor and all the madness begins. 3000 DEF is respectable too, at least Abyssgaios won't be getting over it

YGO will be very fun (but fast) after these things (and the baby versions) are released. However, the Dragon deck and Prophecy are real pain in our ass. It's simple as 2 best decks and a million good decks, which is a good part for the format. You'll need to make meta calls, finding random tech cards and such. Personally I'd prefer this to the all-Mermail format. Facing 1 deck in a whole tournament is no fun at all

Until next time ;)

3v3 tourney report

It's basically 3v3 team tournament with the teammates sharing one banlist (1 Heavy Storm for all 3 people, 2 have to play without it, etc)

Team line-up was:

Player A: Banisher Thunderking Fossildyna etc.dek

Player B (me): Undine Mermail with Teus and all the "Mono" engine

Player C: Spellbook

Round 1: Free win as one of my opposite team's player did not attend

The anti-meta player faced Karakuri, which is of course free win too lol. I know all the in and out of Karakuris, and all he had to do was summon Fossil Dyna and backed it up with Forbidden Lance and Safe Zone

The Spellbook player had to play a mirror match. In duel 2 he was lucky enough to pull off a Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell against opponent's Spellbook of Secrets. GG lol

Team: OOO

Round 2: Chain Energy Volcanic Counter... Burn deck

This was stupidly hilarious. I was really confused of Volcanic Counter's MANDATORY burn effect. I thought it was like Necro Gardna so I didn't find a way to play around it. 

And the deck was cool. Onslaught of the Fire King for the Fire King Kirin, which in turn kicked Volcanic Queen to the grave

Game 1 I barely won thanks to the super duper fast rush. 

Game 2 he burned me to 600, then rammed Marshmallon into Megalo with Volcanic Counter in grave 

Game 3 I had a Decree face-up, Pike and Megalo attacking (into double Volcanic Queen). He flipped Magic Cylinder and Dimension Wall for nothing, I went dumb and rushed Megalo into Gorz lol. And then I realized I sided out my only out against Gorz and the 2400 token (Abyssleed), gg

At the same time, the anti meta player died quickly and badly to Malefic beatdown (Banisher no match Malefic Cyber End), while the Spellbook player somehow pull off a 2-1 win against Six Samurai. He was holding a dead Spellbook of Life and a High Priestess on field against Zanji, Irou and Grandmaster. Zanji killed Priestess (Grandmaster died in his place), Irou hit for 1700. Next turn he topped Justice, set and ended. The Samurai player topped United lol, attacked and ended. The final turn, the Spellbook player ripped Spellbook Magician of Prophecy, which makes Life live, also some Power trick involved and won

Team: XXO

Round 3: Dark World

Game 1: Got OTK'd with Grapha, Goldd and Beiige with Gates face-up. He hit some damage previously so I died bad

Game 2: I think I OTK'd him, like any usual Mermail does

Game 3: He hit me with 2 Dragged Down, 2 DDV but I managed to survive thanks to Pike + Dragoons + Moulinglacia to make a good Megalo play (forgot to side out Moulinglacia). He was under Reckless Greed and I killed him before he saw any draw

The anti-meta player faced Chaos Dragon which should be an auto win match-up thanks to Banisher, Fossil Dyna and such. However game 1 he died to Return from DD after everything was banished, and game 2 or 3 he ran into Aurkus (lol) and cannot killed the opponent right there. He ripped Dark Hole or Heavy Storm or something and that was GG

The Spellbook player played a mirror match again lol. The other deck had 2 Spellbook Magician, 3 Spellbook of Eternity and all the bad cards. Somehow he died to a Temperance into Priestess play after Cursing Spellbook of the Master

Team: XOX

Round 4: Hieratic

I know everything about Hieratic so everything was fine.

Game 1: He cannot go off soon and fast enough. I killed him like any other Mermail does

Game 2: He made an OTK board of Gaia, REDMD at 2800 and Scrap Dragon. I survived thanks to Sphere, then next turn make Big Eye, take Scrap Dragon, drop Moulinglacia, summon Linde, popped Linde and REDMD, called out Leed. GG

The anti meta player opened Banisher of the Radiance all 3 games against Mermail lol. Wasn't any easy game, but in game 3 when he was ready to die (facing Royal Decree, only had Spirit Reaper face-up against Marksman and Dragoons), he ripped BLS with exactly 1 LIGHT 1 DARK in grave lol GG

Team: OOO

However with the score 2-2 we didn't managed to get into top 4. It ended there D:

Sided heavily for Evilswarm, met none

Only used Dust Tornado, Decree and Maxx "C"

D:

See you next time xD